“I FEEL we’ve stepped up our ambitions,” says Kresanna Aigner, director of the second Findhorn Bay Festival, a six-day celebration of the arts and community in the north-east of Scotland which opens today [Wednesday].

It’s no small boast, given that the highlight of 2014’s inaugural event was Macbeth: The Remix, a multi-media outdoor production of the Scottish play at Brodie Castle which involved professionals working alongside 300 community artists and residents. This mixture of the global and the local, utilising unconventional performance spaces, lies at the heart of one of Scotland’s most diverse and ambitious arts festivals.

With events held in the halls, churches, beaches and parks of the tiny Moray village, as well as at venues in neighbouring Forres and Elgin, the festival offers a vibrant programme across the arts which integrates into the surrounding environment. “We can go to cities to see lots of these artists, but there’s something special about asking people to come to a small rural community, where we don’t have all the fully-kitted out venues and galleries,” says Aigner. “By getting the local community to work with us, we’re turning our local assets into interesting spaces.”

Inspired by Scotland’s Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design, highlights range from Julie Fowlis’s opening concert with Nairn’s Gaelic Choir to Scottish Opera’s new production of Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love.

“We’ve had two years to attract and grow our local audience, and to look at the visiting audience, too,” says Aigner. “That’s reflected in the programme. The biggest step is that we’re bringing in more international artists, like the incredible Luke Jerram. He’s like the rock star of the world of visual and public art, so it’s very ambitious for us to have him.”

The Bristol-based Jerram is most famous for his Play Me, I’m Yours street piano installations, which visited Glasgow in 2014 during the Commonwealth Games, and has seen 1500 pianos spring up in 55 cities worldwide, played by more than 10 million people. At Findhorn, Jerram is giving a Scottish premiere to Glass Microbiology in the library at Brodie Castle. What persuaded him to go from the Metropolitan Museum in New York to a seaside village in Moray? “I immediately thought this was a great place to come,” he says, taking a break from finalising his installation. “A lot of my work is outside of a museum and gallery context. I think very much about the public interaction with what I do, so I’m really pleased with the opportunity to present this work in a beautiful castle.”

A series of sculptures contemplating the impact and nature of global diseases, Glass Microbiology includes million-scale models of HIV, small pox and SARS; the latest depicts the Zika virus. “Each year I add to it,” he says. “It’s interesting. You’re attracted to them because they’re beautiful, but when you realise what they are, you are kind of repelled as well. It creates a curious tension. It’s an opportunity to look at the craft, but also think about the global implications of each virus.”

Jerram is looking forward to exploring the rest of the festival on foot. “As an artist, it’s nice to be part of an event where there are all sorts of wonderful other things going on.” Aigner promises him an immersive experience, ranging from big name highlights to secret bus tours and a free Culture Day in Forres.

She is particularly excited about a one-off event on Saturday night featuring Fife’s James Yorkston, Belfast’s Duke Special, Glasgow’s Randolph’s Leap and Highland dance collective Plan B. Only at this kind of festival, says Yorkston, are such collaborations really viable. “It reminds me of the early days of the Fence Collective, which always brings a smile,” he says. “You get a real sense of community, and it can be quite intense. It’s always interesting, and a lot more fun and personal than rolling up to some 20,000 capacity place, where you’re passed from tent to tent.”

Yorkston will play a solo set mixed with readings from his recent novel, The Three Craws. What happens after that between the featured artists remains fluid. “We’re all going to get together and do some stuff. It looks as though there’s going to be quite a lot of Ivor Cutler. That’s the plan, but it might all change when we get there. And there are dancers as well!” Will he be dancing? “Part of me hopes so. That’s the beauty of these things – anything could happen.”

GRAEME THOMSON

The Findhorn Bay Festival runs from 21 – 26 September. Visit http://findhornbayfestival.com for full programme details